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"Imagine a city full of people ruthlessly pursuing wealth, fame and self-improvement, at any cost? Where everyone you met was either a celebrity, trying to be a celebrity, or used to be a celebrity? Where nature's bounty meant you could enjoy perfect weather all year round? Where the air was so good you could literally see and taste it? Dare to dream, because that city exists..."

Population

Established

Country

State

Motto

"Bulimic capital of America"

Los Santos is a major city located in southern San Andreas in Grand Theft Auto V. GTA V marks Los Santos' second appearance in the series after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which came out in 2004. The new rendition of the city is much more detailed, larger, and looks more alive than ever before. Los Santos is based on Los Angeles, California and its greater metropolitan area. Los Santos is Spanish for "The Saints", a play on "The Angels", which is the translation of Los Angeles.

Like its real-life counterpart, Los Santos is a huge and sprawling metropolis with various different cultures, ranging from the prestigious film-making industry of Vinewood to the suburban hood life of Strawberry, just to name a few. Like Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV, the time and date of the city is the same as the year the game was released (2013).

Contents

Geography

This article or section is Under Construction.

"Welcome to Los Santos. The city of cellulose, sand, and cellulite removal. From dead starlets in Vinewood to the gangbangers in Davis and Strawberry, and terror cells in Chumash to the drunken tourists in Del Perro Pier, it's time to take a look inside this cesspit of destroyed dreams, drug-addled degenerates, and deluded desperados that make up this great city of lights."

An economically depressed, predominantly African-American area of the city, characterized by street gangs and low-income housing projects. South Los Santos is divided into the neighborhoods of Strawberry, Rancho, Chamberlain Hills and Banning, and also contains the incorporated city of Davis.

Predominantly a shopping and residential area, Rockford Hills is an affluent incorporated city that merged into Los Santos. The iconic Portola Drive is a major tourist attraction in the city. The district also contains the smaller neighbourhood of Burton in the southeast.

The major seaport for the city of Los Santos and the busiest port in America. It is split into two areas: Elysian Island, the location of Pier 400, the Naval Port, shipyards and various warehouses, and Terminal, a maritime container terminal.

Home to the world-famous Kortz Center museum, Pacific Bluffs is the entrance gate to western Los Santos. Like neighboring Richman, it is predominantly a high-class residential district with a low population density.

Vespucci

Landmarks and Sightings

Skyscrapers and corporate buildings

A view of Los Santos.

Los Santos is not as renowned as Liberty City for its cityscape, but many important companies as well as government agencies FIB and IAA are headquartered here. Most of the city's high rises are located in Downtown LS, and the rest are scattered throughout the nearby districts of Little Seoul and Rockford Hills.

Residential buildings

Aside from houses, there are also large apartment buildings for people to live in. These buildings are typically high-end and go up to thousands of dollars in price, except the low-rise housing projects of South Los Santos.

Art and Culture

Before the Internet age, people went to the various theatres of Los Santos to see movies. These theatres have been used since the 20th century and are what made the Vinewood film industry famous. There are also art museums and galleries located throughout LS.

Infrastructure

Traffic on the Freeway at night.

Air and Seaport

Los Santos has one of the busiest airports in the world, along with one of the busiest seaports in the world. In the LSX, people are traveling to and from Los Santos every day, although there is barely enough infrastructure to support all this activity. The port is used mostly for Chinese goods and suspicious cargo.

Transportation

Los Santos Transit logo.

Los Santos offers a wide range of transportation, including a connected major highway system, and several other smaller highways, with several exits and on-ramps around the city. The city also has its own rapid transit system named the Los Santos Transit. Buses can also be seen spawned in traffic all around the city. Like most cities, Los Santos traffic is monitored and controlled by the Los Santos Transport Traffic Control System which allows the city to control traffic lights and manipulate conditions and the flow of vehicles on the streets and highways.

The Los Santos International Airport is located in the south eastern part of Los Santos and is the only airport in the city. The airport is a major gateway to and from several locations throughout America.

Law Enforcement

LSPD

The Los Santos Police Department (LSPD) is the law enforcement agency that serves the city of Los Santos. They are based on the real life Los Angeles Police Department. Their motto is "Obey & Survive", which is inscripted on their squad cars and also reflects on their corrupt nature. Unlike the LCPD, they use newer VapidPolice Cruisers and also use the Vapid Interceptor, as opposed to the Merit-based Police Patrol, but they still use the Police Maverick as their main squad and helicopter units, respectively. The LSPD is accused of corruption and racism, much like its predecessor and the LAPD in real life.

Criminal Justice

Although not seen in-game, Los Santos operates a criminal justice system. In a Weazel News radio segment, a court known as the Los Santos Superior Court is mentioned.

Crime

Los Santos is also the stronghold of the criminal underground. Some of the neighborhoods in Los Santos suffer from high crime rates, specifically the southern part of the city. Since the 1990s, Los Santos is primarily affected from drug trades between many gangs in the city. These drugs include crack, meth, and marijuana as well as a new drug called "Toilet Cleaner". Despite all the crime in Los Santos, the city still remains safer than Liberty City.

Besides the drug smuggling, the city suffers from violence, murder, and gang fighting in the southern part of the city (mainly Chamberlain Hills, Davis, and Strawberry). Most of these crimes are caused by the two long time rival African-American street gangs, The Families and the Ballas. They are involved in arms-trafficking as well, bringing in illegal weaponry such as Assault Rifles and SMGs.

Other than small-time street gangs, there are also influential and organized crime groups in the city. The Marabunta Grande, a powerful Salvadorian crime syndicate, are expanding their operations to Los Santos. They have fierce rivalries with other gangs all across San Andreas that are involved in the narcotics trade.

Not only is there high criminal activity, but there is also widespread corruption amongst city officials and even the police. The LSPD is known for their police brutality; there was even an instance where they shot and killed a dog. According to some sources, LSPD officers are also known for hiring prostitutes, which may explain the high presence of prostitution even in the affluent parts of the city.

Choice of City

When Rockstar Games started to conceptualize Grand Theft Auto V, they felt that they still had work to do in San Andreas. Dan Houser, the English Vice President of Rockstar Games along with his brother, Sam Houser, as well as the VP of Creativity, had given his idea on creating a new Los Santos this time around:

"Sam, my brother, more than anyone, but also the lead artist Aaron Garbut, were both really interested in the idea of doing a proper Los Angeles. We felt we hadn't done that with San Andreas - which was these very small, sketch like cities. Los Angeles and the surrounding countryside would be very interesting, giving us good themes to play on, and lots of good, different gameplay environments - something that allude to aspects of GTA IV and allude to some aspects of San Andreas, but still very fresh and different from the both of them."

Dan Houser also stated that, "The geography you could get outside Los Angeles is spectacular. The contrast between desert/rural Southern California, inland from L.A. and just a bit north, compared to L.A., gives you a great microcosm of red state/blue state theme - different vibes culturally as much as geographically. I think this would be good about this location."

When asked about what elements were Rockstar Games comfortable with leaving behind and what elements they wanted to preserve from San Andreas, Rockstar Games' Aaron Garbut said that they wanted the new world of Los Santos to feel "very fresh" and that there reference for the world of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV"wasn't the city from the earlier games." Aaron also stated that this version Los Santos is an, "entirely fresh game world waiting to be explored and experienced."

Once asked what is difference between Los Santos in GTA: San Andreas and in GTA V, Aaron stated that the focus of San Andreas was gang culture, while the focus of GTA V is about contemporary culture of L.A. as a whole, with the difference between the two is that GTA V is "so much broader."

Weather

Los Santos is heavily polluted, with smog common during the early hours of the morning. At night, the sky is commonly a dark yellow colour, especially when it is cloudy or raining. According to a radio advertisement, Los Santos was named "the most polluted city in the world" in 2013, ahead of Beijing. From 24-26 December 2013, Rockstar added snow to Grand Theft Auto Online. Snow covered the whole city and was visible from Blaine County. During this time, the days were shorter and the nights were darker, replicating a real-life winter. From 24-26 December 2014, snow reappeared via a DLC. Snow was also present from 31 December 2014 to 2 January 2015.

Gallery

The official seal for the City of Los Santos.

Street map of Los Santos.

A map showing the districts and regions of Los Santos.

Detailed street map of Los Santos.

A tourist holding a guide to Los Santos. Note that this map is different than the actual game map, and has a much more exaggerated view of the city.

Just like Los Angeles, Los Santos is accused of having terrible traffic. This can be seen when sometimes switching to Michael or Franklin, where they will be stuck on the highway with lots of congestion.

Some in-game places, such as the Jetsam Terminal, indicate that Los Santos is a state, when in reality, is a major city of San Andreas.

If the player manages to reach the city during nighttime while a blackout is active, such as using the mission Slasher in GTA Online, they may notice that the purple, blue, green and orange glow from buildings is still present, proving the glow from the city is in fact not caused by the light.